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Israeli Arabs divided over Assad

The Israeli Arab Joint List party didn’t straightforwardly condemn the gas attack in Idlib, thus provoking the ire of many Israeli-Arab citizens.
Israeli Arab lawmakers from the Joint Arab List (from L to R) Osama Saadi, Ahmed Tibi, Ayman Odeh, Masud Ganaim and Haneen Zoabi stand in front of the Dome of the Rock during a visit to the compound known to Muslims as Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as Temple Mount in Jerusalem's Old City July 28, 2015. REUTERS/Ammar Awad  - RTX1M321
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“This is no longer a question of an alliance between three parties with no real connection between them and no ideological glue binding them. This is a scandal within the home, within the party.” This is how a veteran activist of Hadash from the town of Umm Al-Fahm described how his party blocked an official condemnation by the Joint List party (an alliance of parties that includes Hadash) of the chemical weapons attack by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime forces.

Hadash, a successor to the defunct Israeli communist party, is the largest component of the Joint List, created ahead of the 2015 general elections — a union that made it the third largest faction in the Knesset when it garnered 13 of its 120 seats.

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